erhaltevserholtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“erhalte” and “erholt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,268
“erhalte” frequency rank
#10,467
“erholt” frequency rank
20735
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature erhalte erholt
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs erhalten Partizip Perfekt des Verbs erholen

Where the eye mixes erhalte and erholt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. erhalte runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against erholt's 6 (VCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
erhalte
6 ch
erholt

Why the eye confuses erhalte with erholt

A purely visual mix-up. erhalte ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltə]) and erholt ([ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20735, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

erhalte is recorded at frequency rank #10,268, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhaltə]. erholt is at rank #10,467, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlt].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 20735, this pair ranks #1,894,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of erhalte vs erholt

Shared letters: ehlrt. Private to "erhalte": a. Private to "erholt": o.

"erhalte" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "erholt" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • erhalte ← ehralte · erahlte · erhalet · erhallte · erhaltte · erhatle · erhhalte · erhlate
  • erholt ← ehrolt · erhholt · erhlot · erhollt · erholtt · erhotl · erohlt · errholt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "erhalte" for "erholt" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɛɐ̯ˈhaltə] versus [ɛɐ̯ˈhoːlt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "erhalte" vs "erholt" - which ranks higher?
"erhalte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,268 in our German list, against #10,467 for "erholt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "erhalte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "erholt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,894,341 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "erhalte" and "erholt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erhalte vs erhärtet". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,894,341 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list